


If Tomorrow Never Comes

by denytheworld



Category: One Piece
Genre: Drama, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-18
Updated: 2013-04-18
Packaged: 2017-12-08 19:45:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/765280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/denytheworld/pseuds/denytheworld
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Smoker worries about the future as Ace sleeps on.</p>
            </blockquote>





	If Tomorrow Never Comes

 

Smoker wanted nothing more than for time to stop.

The future held nothing but trouble for him. The older he got, the harder it was for him to discern between good and evil. It began with a slight pause, a misstep in his thoughts before the cogs picked up and he acted. This little blip was barely noticeable at first, but Smoker could sense trouble when it comes to visit. He _needed_  time to freeze, just to give him a moment's reprieve. As the years go by, it becomes so that it is not just his mind that freezes, but his body as well. His arm slows as he swings his jitte, he takes a moment longer to reform from his smoke, he actually  _stops_ to question the situation before he gives chase. Lately, he's been prone to thinking very dangerous thoughts.

What was so bad about being a pirate if the so-called authorities aren't so good?

Thoughts like his got people court-martialed, dishonourably discharged and executed in short order.

But by now, he couldn't pass judgment on others, let alone on himself. So he doesn't begrudge his semi-treasonous thoughts or the pirate that sneaks oh so casually into his bed at all hours of the night.

Curled into a loose ball against him, his lover slept. Oblivious to Smoker's inner turmoil, Ace was peaceful. No, Smoker exhaled a slow, steady breath, and corrected himself. Ace  _knew_. Smoker was aware, always aware of Ace. And Ace knew, but he had already decided without him. No doubt, Ace had long since struggled with the concepts of right and wrong, the injustices in this world and had come to terms with his findings. Heh. Hina had always said Smoker was a late-bloomer.

Regardless, Smoker did envy the pirate and his ease with the world. He knew Ace had gone to hell and back to achieve this hard-won tranquility so he had no right to covet what he didn't earn. But he did. Smoker himself was at the precipice of his own coming ordeal. He was  _scared_. What the world was going to throw at him was going to be difficult. He'd lose either way, that he was sure, which was why he didn't _want_  anything to come - not yet. He could sense something malevolent - Fate, herself probably - and he wanted to keep this feeling at bay. Time  _needed_ to freeze.

Ace would pick to face the world, to be free. To hell with the consequences, that was Ace's way of doing things. That should have been Smoker's way too. That  _had_  been his way of thinking, ten years ago. Before the Grand Line, before the World Government, before  _Ace_. Time cannot confine the young pirate, not now anyways. He'd face the world and go out with an explosion. He'll do everything on his terms and only then, would he be satisfied.

Smoker, Smoker was a coward then. He wouldn't mind being frozen and held down - as long as things were like this. If tomorrow doesn't come as expected, it would be no great loss. Not when he had so much worth losing...

"Wh-what're you thinkin' 'bout?" A soft murmur from Ace brought him back to the present. Smoker allowed himself a smile. He accepted his good morning kiss from Ace with no protests.

"Nothing. Go back to sleep."

 


End file.
